Why Cheap Websites are a Waste of Your Money

Salon Diva in Warrenton, Virginia thought they would save some money and have a friend build their website for the low price of just $175.

But once their website was finished — no one could find it! The beauty salon owner may as well have thrown her money away, for all the good her new website was doing her. None of her prospective customers could find her salon online using logical search phrases like “Warrenton VA hair salon” or “Warrenton VA beauty salon.”

I rebuilt Salon Diva’s website and now they are getting found by customers who use the internet to find information about local hair salons and day spas.

The first thing I did after completing work on their website was to create a complete local business listing for Salon Diva in Google Places — so their information would show up next to the Google Map for local hair salons.

Then I listed Salon Diva in several other highly-trafficked websites. This approach to “back linking” is the internet equivalent of attending business lead shares or networking events. The more connections your website makes with other websites, the greater your chances of getting profitable referral business through those other linking websites.

Here’s another example of how I helped a client leverage the internet to increase sales and profits.

When I first started working with Earth, Glaze & Fire you couldn’t find their website on the internet — even though it had been up for several years.

If you searched for Paint Your Own Pottery in Warrenton, Virginia, or Warrenton Pottery, or Warrenton Ceramics, you would find links and references to paint-your-own-pottery studios as far away as Manassas and Fairfax – but you wouldn’t have found Earth, Glaze & Fire right here in our home town.

Now, when you search for Warrenton Pottery, or Warrenton Ceramics, or Paint Your Own Pottery in Warrenton, Virginia you will find 4 or more references to Earth, Glaze & Fire plus links to their website on page 1 of Google results.

That’s what search engine optimization does for you.

And that’s why SEO matters for every local business.

Do you have a website? Is it bringing you business?

If you are disappointed in your website’s performance, it might be because:

It hasn’t been search engine optimized.

It hasn’t been submitted to Google and other search engines for indexing — so they don’t even know about it.

It doesn’t have enough informative content to get Google’s attention.

It doesn’t have a lead capture or follow-up strategy in place to help you cultivate customer relationships that lead to sales.

Take Away Lessons

Don’t assume people have your business card with your website address on it. Business cards get lost, tossed, or misplaced.

If you’re going to get a website –hire someone who knows how to make sure it will get found, fast and easy — even when people don’t already know your business name or your website address.

If you have a website that is “invisible” or underperforming — invest in quality search engine optimization and search engine marketing. It’s an investment that will pay dividends to you for months and years to come.

About Us

Yvonne Herbst learned how to leverage the power of the internet to build her business while operating the New Life Yoga Center in Warrenton, Virginia, and later in promoting her yoga classes at the Fauquier Hospital LIFE Center.

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